March 30, 2009
By Ron Felix
Make no mistake about it...Jimmie Johnson owns Martinsville Speedway.
CIA Stock Photos
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Johnson Moves Hamlin Out Of The Way
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Denny Hamlin led the most laps (267) but it was Johnson who muscled his way past Hamlin with 15 laps to go and then drove to victory in the Goody's Fast Pain Relief 500 at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday. It was Johnson's 41st trip to Victory Lane in 261 career races and his first win this year.. Johnson has won the last five of six races at the .526-mile track and owns a total of six wins in 15 races at the Virginia track.
“I don’t know how Denny (Hamlin) got inside of me on that one restart," said Johnson. "I felt like I was a little better and sure enough he was there and he had the lane and we raced hard from there. And then trying to come back and get him, I had a little bit better car on the longer run and I was patient and set him up, set him up, got inside of him.
"I assume that he knew he ran me down because he didn’t come back down in Turn 1 and dump me. So he tried to put the squeeze on me and I was up on the curb and sliding; we got together and he did a hell of a job saving it. I thought I was going around too and fortunately we had enough distance where we were to the next guy to not have any trouble or lose any spots."
Johnson now has more wins at the historic Virginia race track than any other track on the circuit. The victory jumped Johnson five positions in the standings to fourth.
The win kept Chevrolet on top of the 2009 NSCS Manufacturers’ Cup standings with six races in the record books.
It was the 18th Sprint Cup victory at Martinsville for Rick Hendrick, coming on the 25th anniversary of his first win in the series. Geoff Bodine won that race 25 years ago.
Hamlin held on for second place and Tony Stewart finished in third spot. Hamlin was not as upset as fans thought he would be for all the bumping and grinding that he and Johnson were doing.
“I’m honored to be on the race track with guys like Jimmie (Johnson) and Jeff (Gordon) and Tony (Stewart). Those are the guys who are the best in the business," said Hamlin. "We came up short. That was short-track racing. I would’ve done the same thing to him, and if it comes back around, I will do the same. It’s just the way it is. In Martinsville, you have to battle for every inch, and I was trying to protect a spot, and he was trying to get it at the end of the race. That’s the way it goes.”
Jeff Gordon finished fourth and increased his NASCAR points lead to 89 over second place Clint Bowyer. Bowyer finished fifth in Sunday's race followed by Ryan Newman, Mark Martin, Dale Earnhardt Jr., A.J. Allmendinger and Jamie McMurray to round out the top ten.
Another great run for Allmendinger.
"We just couldn’t get the track position we were looking for, but the last stop Sammy (Johns) made a good call (two tires)," said Allmendinger. "I wasn’t sure of it because we had taken two tires the run before that. It was a good call that got us track position. We were just a little too tight center off. The pit crew did a good job. We’ve got to keep working on that. To be top 10 at Martinsville, I’m pleased.”
Joey Logano was credited with a 32nd-place finish and captured Raybestos Rookie of the Race honors for the fourth time in six races this season. He wasn't happy with the results.
"By the end of the race at least we were faster, you know, in top-10," Logano said. "You can’t overcome a flat tire and it took us a few laps to get where we needed to be. I felt like we were okay but it’s just like every other race. It’s hard to come back after what we lost in the beginning."
Scott Speed led today’s race once for 12 laps, the first time he has led a lap in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race this season. Speed is the first Raybestos Rookie to lead a lap in the spring race at Martinsville since J.J. Yeley led once for one lap 2006. Speed had a rough outing, finishing 39th, 76 laps down to the leaders. Kyle Busch and he tangled only 69 laps into the 500 lap race.
“I’m sure Kyle [Busch] is going to offer to buy me dinner since that’s the second time this year that he’s wrecked me, so I’m looking forward to that," said Speed jokingly. "We had a great car before we got wrecked and we even had a great car after we got wrecked. This race is a lot like Daytona for us where we had a great car but were in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
The next race on the Sprint Cup schedule – the seventh event of 36-races for the 2009 Sprint Cup Championship. The Samsung 500 will be on April 5th, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The race begins at approximately 1:30 p.m. eastern time with live, high-definition coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m. eastern time. The race will also be broadcast live on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128 and PRN radio.
For full final race results...
(Insider Racing News)
For top-40 Sprint Cup drivers points...
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